@pythag I think it is mostly COVID hammering the supply chain. It is affecting almost every industry. 

COVID is certainly hammering the supply chain, but it has now been over a year that we have had two replacement heads on backorder. This is pretty terrifying. Circuit Specialists has stated that they have no real update nor eta. Is there ANY real word on if or when Cel parts will be back or if Cel is closing? 

Sorry to sound negative, but people depending on these printers are really going to be out of luck if anything fails.

@justice-5972 CEL is not closing. Heads have been backordered for over a year because of COVID. We have to be patient. Prusa, as an example, is getting hammered by the same issues. Some of their parts have been on backorder for almost as long. 

You should not be depending on a hobby level printer without a warranty for business use; this might be a good time to look at your backup plan for when things fail and possibly diversify. 

RBX10 RoboxPRO 3D printer

Surely this is being advertised as a professional printer

If not please remove the PRO tag and replace with an Amateur tag

@jeffb The RoboxPro is a professional level printer. The RBX01 that Justice uses is a hobby level printer. While they use the same print heads, the Pro is designed with a higher level of reliability. 

However, I do not recommend that any business rely only on one manufacturer of equipment, nor on hobby level equipment unless they also plan for downtime.

@bhudson is totally right that I use the RBX01 and not the Pro model. But, I have now had two replacement heads on order since last June and both printer models use the same heads. I am really surprised more people aren't freaking out about this.

Bhudson is also totally right on not putting all your manufacturing eggs in one equipment basket, and so we are branching out. But the brand we are adding in has had no trouble with parts. Our company manufactures sheet metal and electronic items and we have seen delays and price increases in both metal, chips and general electronics but nothing like this. How are people supposed to keep their printers working? What's going on at Cel?

Sorry, I'm just venting as I have nowhere else to go.

I don't suppose there's any stock related news? (especially heads....)

@pythag We have had heads on order for over a year, the issue is that the factory simply does not want to make them in the low quantities we require and keep pushing back our manufacturing window in favor of other customers who order their parts in the thousands.

That's a shame...

Perhaps if you allowed back orders on your website (and perhaps even took payment for them, or at least a deposit) then you might get your volumes up enough for them to take notice? I personally would probably commit to 2 or 3 heads, and perhaps a bunch of other spares.

I suspect the window of opportunity is closing - the number of people unable to use their Robox due to lack of a head will be rising, and pretty much all of those people will have found other printers instead, plus there are currently no new Robox owners joining the pool.

I personally don't want to get another printer - I love this one!

@pythag We love the robox too! Unfortunately, demand is in the low hundreds and minimum order quantities for many of the custom parts to build our heads are in the thousands.

Hence my question earlier about sending in non working heads

Which would give cel parts to use just like the reel return

and maybe a credit to those returning the heads

Not that I know which parts are needed the most

but most problems seem to me to be with blocked nozzles at my end anyway

The problem is that the most common problems are with parts that aren't salvageable. 

The Robox doesn't get blocked nozzles unless it is misused, either by running wet filament, not purging within the required periods, or by a failure to properly calibrate the head. 

Leaking nozzles are the most common failure that isn't due to user error and those can't be repaired without replacing the heatblock. So you would have a bunch of head parts that don't fail and still need all the parts that fail, which comes back to the comment above about minimum orders and economy of repair. 

So this is cactus I presume

And only good for the scrap heap